Members of the Rotary Club of Jones County heard never before released information last week about the success of the governor’s criminal justice reform effort from the man at the top of the Georgia Department of Corrections.

The statistics were presented by Brian Owens, who is the commissioner of the department of corrections, during the April 9 Rotary Club program.

Owens began his comments with praise for State Reps. Susan Holmes and Bubber Epps, who were also in attendance to the program.

“I hope you know what a treasure you have in these representatives. They are always ready to help,” he said.

The commissioner said Georgia has 55,000 prisoners locked up and 164,000 probationers. He said the DOC has an annual budget of $1.2 billion, which is approximately 5.5 percent of the state’s budget. He said the prison system actually farms 19,000 acres of land and produces 41 percent of the food that the inmates eat. That includes 2.5 million dozen eggs.